Mortgage Rates: Freddie Mac’s Survey Mortgage Rates Down This Week

Mortgage Rates: Earlier today Freddie Mac released it’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey showing mortgage rates mostly falling again this past week. The average rate for 30-year conforming fixed rate mortgages was down to .482 percent with an average of 0.7 point. Rates were closer to 6 percent last year at the same time.

Average mortgage rates for 15-year conforming fixed rate mortgages were at 4.50 percent with an average of 0.7 point. Down from last week’s average mortgage rate of 4.52 percent. Last year at this time 15-year mortgage rates averaged 5.55 percent.

Five-year adjustable rate mortgages averaged 4.79 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down from last week’s average of 4.82 percent. This time last year average mortgage rates on five-year adjustable rate mortgages were 5.61 percent.

One-year adjustable rate mortgages were the only average rates that increased this week from last. Average rates on one-year ARMs are 4.82 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.71 percent.

Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft had the following comments.

“Long-term fixed-rate mortgage rates have remained below 5.0 percent for the past 10 weeks as the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve (Fed) act to keep interest rates low through security purchases. The Treasury purchased $136 billion in mortgage-backed securities through April and the Fed bought $740 billion through mid-May. In addition, the Fed purchased $115 billion in Treasury bonds since March of this year.”

“Housing construction continued to decline, as total starts fell to the lowest level since the Census Bureau began its monthly series in January 1959. While single-family construction appears to be near or at a bottom, multi-unit construction continued to recede. Reflecting the apparent stabilization in single-family construction levels, homebuilder confidence rose in May to the highest level since September 2008 and represented the first back-to-back up tick since February 2008.”